UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Jake Stone has been named as Penn State baseball's Director of Operations and Player Development, head coach Rob Cooper announced Friday.
Stone brings professional and Big Ten experience to the position, working for the Baltimore Orioles organization this summer and previously serving as the head student manager at Iowa. In his roles, Stone demonstrated advanced knowledge of the cutting-edge player development technology that has proliferated through baseball and efficiently implemented the new systems to improve player practice plans.
"We are extremely excited to add Jake to our staff," said Cooper. "His experience at Iowa and with the Baltimore Orioles will really help him make an impact on our program. He will play an integral role in designing practice, player development, coordinating our technology and putting together scouting reports. I know he will help our program and players get better."
For the Orioles Stone served as a minor league video and data assistant. He created and maintained opposing team scouting reports to assist the coaching staff of their short-season A affiliate, the Aberdeen Ironbirds. Stone also operated the BATS! and Trackman systems and assisted with operating the Edgertronic and Rapsodo systems, cutting film for video analysis and creating player profiles utilizing Trackman data.
"I'm incredibly excited to join this great staff at Penn State University," said Stone. "Coach Cooper has done a phenomenal job creating a great culture here, and I believe that this program is really heading in the right direction. I'm eager to get started and do what I can to help this team take a big step this season."
Stone led a team of 14 fellow students as an undergraduate at Iowa, assisting with day-to-day operations such as practice setup, scouting, travel and camps. He worked with now-Penn State assistant coach Sean Moore during the 2017 and 2018 seasons when Moore was serving as the Hawkeyes' volunteer assistant coach. During those two seasons Iowa, tallied a pair of 30-win seasons, won the 2017 Big Ten Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Regionals, and represented the United States at the 2017 World University Games in Taipei, Taiwan, winning a silver medal.
Moore joined Penn State in the summer of 2018 as the Director of Operations and Player Development and moved into an assistant coaching role in July.
In the summer of 2018, Stone served as a collegiate area scout in the Northwoods League for Prep Baseball Report and operated the Trackman system for the single-A Cedar Rapids Kernels, a Minnesota Twins affiliate.
Stone graduated from the University of Iowa in May with a degree in sport and recreation management.
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